memorial baptist church for the funeral of 21-year-old mccray, another shooting happened near the cars lined up toparticipate in the funeral procession. a car pulled up and opened fire annan suv with three men inside. itook off down u street, side-swiped two cars, hit a verizon truck. one was killed. the minister who officiated claimsceates and the victims had not been inside the church for service. >> two straight inciden. and i want it to be known. >>eporter: at least one car parked nearby had a bullet hole through its windshield. several others were side-swiped. business owners were concerned that the newly revitalized area might be tarnished at least

temporarily by its own reputation for violence. officials tell us there were five police officers in cruisers providingecurity but the shooting happened a couple blocks away. jackie benton, news 4 today. time again for a look at traffic and weather on the ones. >> it's cooler this morning. >> and dry for now and fresh and lower humidity. off the a pleasant start this morning. off to the 50s in the suburbs, rural areas. low 60s in washington and near the chesapeake bay. it's cool in the mountains of west virginia. ny locations there in the upper 40s. eastern shore, low to mid-60s. southeastirginia near 70. and we have another plume of moisture coming our way into eastern north carolina. leading edge of the rain associated wh a developing tropical storm. very strong upper level windows blowing 75 miles per hour.

they're going to string it northward and bring it in this afternoon. we could have heavy rain, enough to cause flooding by this time tomorrow morning and the ponding of water. we'll have temperatures this afternoon before any rain arrives. once the rain commences it will drop back into the 60s. and some of the rain, again, as i mentioned could cause flooding is time tomorrow morning through midday thursday. we could get three or four inches out of this. drying out and cooling down as we get into the weekend. jerry, how is the traffic? >> doing pretty well. that's a good start. 395. no worries. everything looking good. let's head over and check out i-270. at the moment, everything moving along nicely. frederick to clarksburg, south toward the capital beltway. looking good between college

park and silver spring. >> jerry, thanks thech very much. as we told you, we're following breaking news where crws are battling a fire in an eight-story apartment building. good morning, tracy. >> reporter: good morning, joe. we are told seven people have been transported, at least one critically injured. somebody aprently set some trash on fire in stairwell on the fifth floor. after that happened folks of course, had a very difficult time gettingout of this building and it caused serious issues. most of the people who live inside were evacuated. some were told to stay in place because it was on lower levels and it was safer for them to stay where they were. seven people transport because of a fire that happened inside this building. of course they're saying it

ooks lke trash was caught on fire in a stairwell of the apartment building. and that's what we know right now. of course firefighters are still on the scene. people living iide, standing outside and looking. i'm told by folks who were out here thathe transports were verydramatic, some brought down the ladder to safety. it was a tellerscene. >> the trash was set on fire in the stairwell sounds like arson. is anybody in cusdy, do you know? >> reporter: not at this point, joempt the investigati joe. the investigation is going to have to contue. we are following a developing story out of mexico. rescuers are looking for 11 missing people after a mud slide. as soldiers and rescuers made it to the recently they learned it

was far less deadly. three adults and eight children are missing. rain wash out roads and bridges. a political horse race up until now, but a new poll showed it was five weeks until election ay. one may be pulling away. a "washington post" poll says governor martin o'malley leads challenger bob ehrlich, 52% to 41%. that is a dramatic chae. the last "washington post" poll back in may showed they were in a dead heat at 47% each. the latest pole showed ehrlich is leading among independent voters but lacks the bipartisan support that he received back in 2002. president obama has a new radio

ad this week. >> maryland, you have a choice in the election this fall, whether you keep moving forward with the hard working leadership of martin o'malley or do you slip backwards? in the toughest of times martin o'malley has moved maryland forward. >> it will begin airingn the d.c. market next week. u.s. military is taking action this morning after a suscted terror plot was uncoughed in europe. the eiffel tower was evacuated after the second bomb threat in two weeks. found ended up finding nothing suspicious, though. they announced they had intercepted an incredible terror plot for france and

[ male announcer ] the turn changes everything. ♪

the turn will make you think. ♪ make you re-examine your approach. change your line. innovate. and create one of the world's fastest-reacting suspensions, reading the road 1,000 times per second. it's the turn that leads you somewhe new. intrucing the new 2011 cts-v coupe. from cadillac. the new standard of the world.

good morning. time for weather and traffic. a mostly clear start to this wednesday. 50s in the suburbs and rural areas. low 60s in washington. out of the moun, in the 40s. increasing crowds. mid to late afternoon, light showers moving in from the south. moderate to heavy downpours later tonight. heavy rain with thunder and lightning and flooding for the morning commute on thursday. highs in the mid and upper 70s. then drying out thursday night. friday, sunshine pack with highs in the mid-70s.

much cooler. afternoon highs with sunshine, near sunday. jerry, how is the raffic? >> traveling into northwt washington, as tracee wilkins just reported, 16th street remainslosed because of the building fire. you can see the fire department on the scene. detour set up. volume very, very light in that stretch of northwest. let's head over a update you at the wilson bridge. inner loop of the beltway bcked in the overnight hours from time to time right at i-66. had to go inner loop, flip around, come back in. that should be wrapped up. outer loop wrappg up. joe, eun. >> jerry thanks. still to come, from the bedroom to the courtroom, a maryland couple suing over bedbugs. plus, a subject he knows all too well. what mayor fenty says about the

political risk reforming schools. who is calling f

4:44. here are some of the top stories. breaking news ou of northwest washington where crews are battling a fire at an eight-story apartment building. live look at the scene right now. seven pele had to be taken to the hospital. they say someone set trash on fire in a stairwell. we have a crew there. we'll bring you an update at once. police still looking for suspects in northwest washington. officers say a group of people we leaving a funeral when someone started firing shots at one of their cars, which then stropd. police believe the shooting may have been gang related. former president jimmy carter is expected to in

washington today even after spending the night in a hospital. doctors decided to have him stay overnight and sayt was purely precautiona precautionary. barack obama will wrap up his fo state campaign today. he will hold a backyard discussion with voters in des moines, iowa this morning before going to richmond, virginia. democrats are in danger of losing control of the housend senate. immigration rights supporters want arlington county police to stop sharing criminal and immigration story of people in custody. it violates the rights of those here legally and undocumented. board member walter tejada said there are beliefs it will lead to distrust in the community. >> we never had a say on the matter.

so today we are asking. virginia implemented the program earlier this year. well, the u.s. senate is proposing a new bipartisan bill th would hold arlington national cemetery in fixing errors in burial records. it requires the army the right past errors and reach out to family members of those buried at arlington. a congressional hearing last month revealed 6,600 graves might be mis marked or mislabeled. senators proposed aing manually operated shutoff valves and doubling the numr of inspectors after the massive explosion no san bruno, california earlier this month. it killed eight people and destroyed dozens of homes. an the cause of that explosion is still unclear.

to maryland now. work to itall acoustic equipment is now halfway complete. that runs under river road in bethesda. urm that video where the road literay turned into a river. crews installed acoustic fiberoptic equipment along 41 miles of he 77 mile long concrete pipe. that will allow the commission to monster for signs of weakening to avoid another major break. despite anothe massive barn fire business will be conducted as usual at the livestock exchange we're told. it began lte monday night in a barn where cattle were kept. 200 cows were inside at the time. crws were able to free most of them but 16 did die. the livestock exchange is a fixture in virginia. investigators are still trying to figure out what happened.

a couple is suing a landlord over itsbed bug infestation. the browns say building managers were supposed to ex terminate their apartment as a precaution after a neighbor's unit was treated for bedbugs but that never happened. according to the suit, the couple and their 3-year-old daughter sufferedred, itchy welts from bedbugs bites as well as emotional trauma. they threw away their possessions and moved in with relatives. d.c.ayor said achieving education reform comes at a political cost during the nbc education natn panel discussion in new yorkcity. he also offered a hypothetical on what he plans to do after he leaves office. some believe he lost his reelection bid. fenty w asked what's next for the two of them.

>> well, she's got her own personal decision to make. but i can tell you what, both of us have seen enormous progress. able to be made at the local level. and both of us are going to stay involved. we're probably going to be ju as much agitators from the outside as we have been from the inside. because this fight is nowhere near over. >> he criticized teachers unions for getting in the way of progress. the discussion is pa of the week long series focusing on the sta of our nation's scores. before the final d.c. mayor election in november, vincent gray wants to hear from city residents. throughout the month of october, he will host town hall meetings in each of the city's eight wards. he wants toalk about the issues that matter most to them. it will be held tuesday, october 19th at 6:30 at the columbia heights youth center. >> it turns out even with

testing bans in effect, more and more americans are still sending texts from behind the wheel. it looked at crash data with texting bans and found in most the number of crashes actually increased. u.s. tnsportation secretary ray lahood caused that misleading. he said bans are important in helping to stop distracted driving bits. but states must enforce them and people must obey them. along with jobs and the housing market, new census data shows the recession claimed another victim, marriage. marriage in adults over 18 fell to an all-time low in 2009. 52%, down from 57% in 2000. and for the first time ever, the number of unmarried 25 to 34-year-olds was greater than the number of married people of that same age. researchers say the drob could be contruted to young adults foced on finding jobs rather

thanaking long-term commitments. or it could be they just don't want to get married. 's helpful to have a job when you get married. good to have an income. >> if you're in love there is no right wrong te. >> okay. >> youuys fight it out amongst yourself. here we have a beautiful morning under way. humidity dropped overnight. and it is aresh and cool start on this wednesday morning. good morning. i'm tom kierein. 63 in washington. 73 later this afternoon. it's only going to climb 10 degrees. mid-50s in prince george's. near the bay, mid-60s, eastern shore. farther to our west, many locations in the 40s. certainly feeling like an autumn morning. beautiful autumn color showing up. western maryland, some of the high spots. moving into the carolinas. another tropical syst coming our way.

this will have another more heavy rn. the leading okay under next west of norfolk, that is movin through virginia. by midafternoon, will likely have rain arrivi here. all this coming from a tropical depression. and upper level winds are screaming along. so it's grabbing some of this tropical moisture way out ahead of the storm and bringing it up along the atlantic seaboard. this could become tropical storm nicole later today. it will likely continue on this same track coming inland as a tropical storm. it's not a major hurricane but it will have copious amounts of moisture with it and bring us three, four inches of rain by middle of the day tomorrow, beginning heavy attimes overnight tonight. and we will have the system continuing to advance to the north and pass thursday afternoon, taking the rain away with it. for today increasing clouds. rain likely arriving

midafternoon. moderate to heavy rain after midnight tonight. flooding likely by this time tomorrow morning. during the take tomorrow, moderate to heavy rain. more flooding likely. tapering off and ending tomorrow afternoon. drying out saturday and sunday and cooling down. only 70. morning lows in the 40s. 40s in the mornings and 60s in the afternoon with partly cloudy skies sunday through tuesday. how is the traffic? >> capital beltway, around andrews air force base, route 4 interchange, both inner loop and outer loop moving along nicely. light to moderate at this hour with no worries om i-95 to the wilson bridge. 16th street remains closed around irving street northwest pause of the connuing investigation into the building fire. don't expect 16th street to open any time soon. of course we'll keep you updated throughout the morning. thank you, jerry.

4:54. after the break, you won't believe what a suspected car thief did when he saw a police officer. the dog thrown out with the trash gets a second chance at a loving ome. frget textoks. local students updating to ipads. ñq

do you feel like you're paying an exorbitant ament to feed t meter in the district? they will hold hearings on rolling back the cost of most meters. he wants to eliminate night and weekend charges except in the most crowded parts of the city. the district recently doubled the charge to $2 an hour. really friendly but really stupid. two men suspected of stealing a mini van were caught by police after one of them wed to a cop. dominic gaskins was arrested and charged with grand larceny an the two drove by movie co.theater and waved at a detective in uniform who was working surity detail. the detective, who knew the driver to be a gang member, ran the plates for the van and discovered that it was stolen. police caught up with the vehicle a short time later and

arrested both men inside. wonder if he said, howdy! >>riendly is one word. thrown in the garbage and left for dead, one dog has a second chance at life thaks to an unlikely rescuer. >> reporter: at 10 pounds, thomas, 6-year-old poodle mix is half the size he's supposed to be. his playful attitude and upbeat spirit can't mask his shocking condition now visible at the washington humane society rescu him and shaved away his discolored hair >> he was extremely matted. he's obviously underweight. he does have ear infections in both ears. >> reporter: the humane society says he's lucky to be alive. he was found next to a dumpster sometime monday morning. it wasn't his barking that was heard. a maintenance worker noticed a suspicious cage.

officer jennifer gardener can't belive a human being would do this to an animal. >> the crateas felty. had probably weeks's worth of urine and feces inside the cra. no food. no water. just really felty. >> reporter: the washington humane society is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. but they're hoping the story will teach pet owners there are other options out there. >> if you can't take care of your dog, you can always surrender to the shelter. so it's just inexcusable to throw your dog out with the trash. >> caller: thomas is recovering, eating steady meals and enjoying the company of others. he's not ready to be adopted yet. but in two weeks, once he gets his weight up and is clearedy the doctors, the washington huma society hopes to find thomas a good home. >> thomas needs a good home. >> reporter: >> i sure he will find one >> stay wi us. news 4 continues today at 5:00 a.m.